To document and record all species of animals and birds recorded in the Amersham District, including Little Chalfont, Amersham, Chesham, Chenies, Latimer, Hyde Heath, Chesham Bois, Old Amersham and Shardeloes Lake

Recording Area Annual Totals

97 Species in 2013, 99 in 2012, 94 in 2011, 108 species were recorded in 2010;

Tuesday, 20 January 2015

Highlights today (Tuesday 20 January)
included this female BLACKCAP in my CHAFFINCH HOUSE garden in LITTLE CHALFONT -
only the second winter record since 1987! Also 2 Bullfinches still visiting and
the first 2 House Sparrows this year

Thanks to my good friend Don Stone, was able
to add COMMON STONECHAT shortly later - a pair showing well in setaside adjacent
to AMERSHAM ROAD in BEACONSFIELD (at SU 947 906); also a flock of 33 Meadow
Pipits there

In RONALD ROAD, BEACONSFIELD opposite, a
healthy population of at least 16 House Sparrows in gardens

Then, thanks to some very helpful advice
from Adam Bassett, added 4 GREY PARTRIDGES - attracted to food at EMMETT'S FARM
GAME CROP FIELDS in LITTLE MARLOW. A very attrictive area to birds with 4
Red-legged Partridges also noted, as well as 14 Stock Dove, 190 Fieldfare, 2
Song Thrush, 4 Greenfinch, 12 Chaffinch, 8 Red Kite and a further 20 House
Sparrows around the FARM SHOP.

Just south of MAIDENHEAD, BRAY LAKE held an
incredible 452 Tufted Ducks, with 2 hybrid Tufted Duck/Pochards with them and
the drake RING-NECKED DUCK pictured below. At least 90 Pochard, as well as 15
Gadwall, 10 Shoveler, 3 Great Crested Grebe and 8 Redwing

A flock of 70 EUROPEAN GOLDEN PLOVER (and 2
Lapwing) were at WELL FARM, just SW of DAGNALL, whilst DOWN FARM near ALDBURY
held 6 Yellowhammers and a Red Kite

No sign of any Grey Partridges around Horton
Village but NE of SLAPTON BRIDGE, the GREAT GREY SHRIKE was still showing very
well both sides of the Grand Union Canal just north of bridge 118 (see images
below); a single Skylark and a few Redwings here too

At GUBBLECOTE, 68 Rook in the
vicinity

While 3 Tree Sparrows have been at Long
Marston and a drake Pintail at WILSTONE this weekend, all that was at the latter
this afternoon were 1 Mute Swan, 377 Coot, 33 Great Crested Grebe, 7 Little
Grebe, 270 Teal, 258 Wigeon, 36 Gadwall, 107 Tufted Duck, 120 Pochard, 130
Shoveler and the 3 female GOLDENEYE

Thursday, 15 January 2015

The day started fine and dry, with
long clear spells and winter sunshine. It then clouded over from the Northwest
with the wind increasing....

A day of TARGET BIRDING with my first visit
to HOGBACK WOOD in BEACONSFIELD, where a single FIRECREST is wintering as usual.
It took a long time to locate but was eventually pinned down to the Holly clump
just as you enter the woodland and the Leylandii and conifer trees in
Woodfield Road adjacent. It was associating with a single Goldcrest. Also noted
were 2 Ring-necked Parakeets, both Green & Great Spotted Woodpecker,
Nuthatch, Song Thrush (singing male), 10 Blue Tit, 6 Great Tit, Coal Tit, Jay, 2
Common Magpie, Red Kite and a flyover Greenfinch.

Moving on to CASTLEMAN'S FARM, to the south
of Beaconsfield, EGYPTIAN GEESE numbered 98 in the chicken fields, with 15+ Red
Kite in the area and 4 Moorhen and a Pied Wagtail.

At BURNHAM BEECHES NNR, a total of 11
MANDARIN DUCK was present on the Upper Pond (6 drakes), with Red Kite, Great
Spotted Woodpecker, Jay and a singing Coal Tit also encountered. Not too far
away at BLACK PARK COUNTRY PARK LAKE, a further 21 MANDARIN DUCK were counted -
11 drakes in this colony. The lake also held 2 Mute Swan, 4 Atlantic Canada
Geese, 6 Mallard, 17 Tufted Duck, 3 Northern Pochard, 4 Moorhen and 26 Coot,
with Nuthatch, Coal Tit and up to 8 Great Tits feeding around the periphery of
the car park.

Despite being so windy, I managed to still
locate most of the long-staying 'rares' on STAINES RESERVOIRS' NORTH BASIN,
including the juvenile GREAT NORTHERN DIVER, 3 BLACK-NECKED GREBES and WATER
PIPIT, whilst 249 Tufted Duck (mostly drake) were impressive, 24 Common
Goldeneye, a drake Shoveler, 125 Wigeon and Green Woodpecker all noted
too.

In the CHESS VALLEY, a single Little Egret
was roosting east of CHENIES BOTTOM BRIDGE, with 2 more on one of the ditches
south of CHURCH COVERT. The LITTLE OWL pair were enjoying the afternoon sun on
the usual pollarded Willow tree, with an adult Argenteus Herring Gull
resting on LATIMER GREAT WATER being a rare visitor there (unusual numbers have
recently been roosting at Stocker's Lake, Rickmansworth). Fifteen days into the
New Year, I was very pleased to finally connect with a MISTLE THRUSH - LATIMER
PLACE virtually a guaranteed stakeout for this species.

Last off I visited the roost at PENN WOOD
SSSI but in very windy conditions it was very poor. Just a single BRAMBLING
roosted in the Penna Rhododendrons (along with 55 Chaffinches), with a further
20 Chaffinches in a 'new' roost in Rhododendrons at the east end of the wood.
Otherwise, just Red Kite, Goldcrest and Coal Tit logged, with the nearby roost
wood yielding 23 of the former.

About Me

I have been birding since 1969 but became obsessed with 'twitching' in 1974 and haven't looked back since. Have driven over 1.3 million miles in pursuit of rare birds in the UK, where to date I have recorded 588 species in Britain and Ireland. I also have a fascination for the Birds of the Western Palearctic, where I have currently recorded 880 of the 1,064 species ever recorded. I am widely travelled in North America, as well as in Africa and Asia, and have written at least 29 books on my chosen subject, including best-sellers ''Ultimate Site Guide to Scarcer British Birds' and 'Rare Birds in Britain 1800-1990'. Established the UK400 Club in 1981 to cater for the most obsessive of the British birding fraternity and now concentrate on online publishing, via the www.uk400clubonline.co.uk website. Record Birding achievements include recording 386 species in Britain & Ireland in 1996 and 627+ in the Western Palearctic in 2008